


Century Egg

by neveralarch



Category: Inspector Chen - Liz Williams
Genre: F/M, Getting Together, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-17 23:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21951235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neveralarch/pseuds/neveralarch
Summary: Chen Wei is a model detective. He has the favor of a goddess and the blessings of his superiors. He brings packed lunches to work. He loves a demon wife.Zhu Irzh wants that.
Relationships: Chen Wei/Inari, Chen Wei/Inari/Zhu Irzh
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	Century Egg

**Author's Note:**

  * For [james](https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide! This is a treat that got a little long - actually your prompt spurred me to finish a little ficlet that I started years ago :) Hope you enjoy!

Chen Wei is a model detective. He has the favor of a goddess and the blessings of his superiors. He brings packed lunches to work. He loves a demon wife.

Chen Wei is an interesting man, and Zhu Irzh isn't fooled by the veneer of boring competence. He finds himself watching Chen, trying to spot the places where his actions don't quite match the character he's crafted for himself. Chen takes risks that he shouldn't, not thoughtlessly but with consideration. Chen argues with people that he shouldn't, avoids agreeing with his superiors until he's skirting the edge of disobedience. Chen watches Zhu Irzh when he thinks Zhu Irzh isn't looking, eyes darting away when Zhu Irzh turns and tries to catch them.

They're sitting together at lunch, and Chen is eating a century egg made with ash from Hell. The scent of it fills Zhu Irzh's nose and he thinks about Inari, Chen's demon wife that he'd flirted with and who’d never quite told him to go away. He wonders just how interesting Chen is, to catch her attention and pull her out of hell. Where had they met? How had they met? When did they first kiss?

He wishes he could ask Inari to tell him the story. He wishes it was an appropriate lunchtime conversation to have with Chen. But Zhu Irzh wants details that aren’t appropriate. Not in an earth police precinct, anyway.

"You look very serious," says Chen. "Are you thinking about the case?"

"No," says Zhu, startled into telling the truth. "It's nothing." He reaches out as if to brush away an insect, and lets one claw graze Chen's cheek. It raises a delicate line of blood, and for a moment Chen leans into the touch, causing Zhu to cut a little deeper than he intended. Then Chen remembers what he is supposed to be and ducks away, and Zhu realizes that his mouth is a little open.

He doesn’t find his equilibrium for the rest of the day. It’s hard, trying to be cool and collected when Detective Inspector Chen is standing beside him with blood on his face.

\---

"What happened?" asks Inari.

The cut on Chen's cheek is small, but it stings dully, red and irritated. He should have healed it but he hadn't _wanted_ to, and without any force of will the spell wouldn't have worked very well anyway.

"Wei?"

The words 'I cut myself shaving' line themselves up in Chen's mind. No. He doesn’t lie to his wife, and he refuses to make this the beginning of something he’ll regret.

"I think Zhu Irzh was flirting," he says.

"Yes, he does that." Inari smiles, and her thumb strokes across the cut, her warm skin rasping the edges instead of soothing it. "I can warn him off. Would you like me to?"

Chen feels another awkward twinge about that question, the same way he’d felt when he’d thought about healing the cut. "You don't have to do that," he says, because he knows this much is true.

"We understand possessiveness better than faithfulness," says Inari. "I know I don't _have_ to, but if it would make things easier—"

"I meant—" Chen covers his wife's hand, pressing it a little harder against his cheek. "You don't have to do anything. Zhu Irzh knows I belong to you."

Inari kisses him, sweet and warm and with Chen's cheek stinging hot against her fingers. "I'll make dinner," she says, when they break. "I'll need you to snap the beans."

They don’t talk about Zhu Irzh at all that evening, and Chen is grateful for it. Grateful that he has a wife who understands him so well, and grateful that he can have this cut on his cheek without being asked to regret it.

\---

Wei keeps coming home with little cuts, on his cheek, on the back of his hand, on his throat. Inari trusts that it's not an affair, she doesn’t even have to ask Wei about it. But she can recognize longing when she sees its marks.

Perhaps she should be proud, that her husband comes home to her every day and looks her in the eye as he tells her about Zhu Irzh's desire for what is hers. There's a power to having something that others want.

Inari feels... unsatisfied.

Zhu Irzh meets her at the congee shop with a sharp smile and an unusual hint of shame around his eyes. Inari has already ordered for them both, and the waiter delivers the congee with century eggs as Zhu Irzh sits down.

"Ah," says Zhu Irzh, and takes a spoonful without waiting for it to cool down. "The eggs aren't as good as yours."

"Oh?" says Inari. "Have you been stealing out of Wei's lunch?"

"He shares," says Zhu Irzh. "Sometimes."

They eat half a bowl in silence. Inari had a long time to decide what she'd like to say before she even asked Zhu Irzh to lunch, but now she feels stuck, rearranging the words again and again in her head.

"Listen, I know I should stop," says Zhu Irzh, in a rush. "Not that I've _done_ anything, but—I should stop. Before anything is done. It's just that neither of you say _no_ , you just look at me with those big eyes, and—yes! Like that!"

"Maybe," says Inari, carefully, "maybe we'd like you to continue."

Zhu Irzh looks frozen. What a funny demon, he is. He tries to seem cool and tough among the humans, but to Inari, now that she’s gotten to know him, he seems so soft. Almost softer than Chen Wei, in his way.

She reaches across, as if brushing away an insect, and lets one claw graze Zhu Irzh’s cheek. He doesn't lean in, nor away. Inari doesn't cut into his demon-hard flesh, and she doesn't spill his blood. It would be toxic, here.

Everything in its place.

"Chen Wei is mine," says Inari, finally finding the proper words. "And I am his. But maybe, if you're very good, we can be persuaded to share."

Zhu Irzh's mouth is open. Inari taps his bottom lip, feeling very daring. "Come to dinner," she says. "And we'll see."


End file.
